Our (Gullo)ible Experience

Can we return to a time where people honored their word? A time when a code of ethics ruled, and a sense of honor and dignity prevailed? I suppose not, as every time we stick our hands out for a handshake and believe we are doing so on an agreed set of rules and understandings, we later learn that the other party was just smiling back at us thinking "suckers!" I honestly hope that my wife and I do not change our hope that there are still some good people out there, but over the years one can only take so many hits before we become so cynical of everyone that we simply have to believe everyone is out to rip you off and if you don't take that attitude towards them, they will get the better of you. I just don't want to become that person.

This is all related to our latest experience a few weeks ago at Gullo Mazda. As you may have read if my other blog relating to our wonderful GM Malibu Maxx, we were anxious to get out of this. Now my wife is an avid researcher so we, as quickly as we could, began our hunt for some foreign cars. We landed at Gullo Mazda to test drive a few cars to see what we were interested in. We test drove a few Toyota's (these two dealerships are side-by-side) and an older Sienna which the price seemed nice and we could pay cash for it and not have to finance anything. We left for the day and did a bit more research and everything we could find pointed us to the decision that the van was a good price as well as a Mazda 6 that was being advertised at another dealship far far away. So going back to Gullo, who is not that far, a few days later, we test drove a comperable Mazda 6 and began negotiations on it as we wanted something a bit newer than the van was offering. During this process, we learned that our Pontiac Sunfire was trading at a price higher than we both expected and decided that trading both our cars in for a paid for Toyota van and a financed used Mazda 6 was our best opportunity to get out of both of these cars and use that leverage of buying two vehicles from the same dealership the same day for a better price.

We were told by our salesman that the van being a 2000 model with 113K miles on it only qualified for a "30 day/1000 mile Gullo Guarentee" and because we were buying on site and signing that night, we were ensured that they have looked over the vehicle and that we could take it to our mechanic if we decided to and have it looked at for any issues that may not have been seen that evening as they didn't want us to leave without first signing the bottom line. So with those "promises" in place and us being gullible in believing that they would honor their word we purchased both vehicles and drove home giddy.

On the second day of ownership, we had our opportunity to drop off the van with our mechanic and he determined that we needed the following:

• New timing belt which also required a new water pump per Toyota standards.
• The power steering pump had fluids on it indicating that it was leaking.
• Valve cover was leaking oil.
• Radiator hoses were dry rotting.

All of which we would not know needed to be replaced and was the main reason we negotiated this prior to sale that we would have the opportunity to have this looked at our mechanic (Total repairs ~2,000.00). Obviously, if these items were known, they would have been requested fixed PRIOR to sale, but we had our assurances! Not only that, but we being the kind of people we are, sunk in 1,500.00 to get the Malibu up to snuff before we would sell it. We are just ethical that way. It seems Gullo doesn't have the same standard. They told us their mechanics had looked it over...either he lied or their mechanics are incompetant. I don't mind paying a higher price for the van, just don't sell me something and then I have thousands to spend in unexpected repair bills.

So I call our salesman up only to get a voicemail in which I leave a message on Friday morning. We call throughout the day to no avail and I finally ask the receptionist if he is in and was told that he is probably with a customer at the moment. Saturday morning and still no return call. So I call for the manager, and again was forced to leave a message. Again we call throughout the day and again, only voicemails. We did later learn that the salesman left a message on our home phone Saturday morning, and explained "...we have customers that have mechanics check out the vehicle before they purchase them, uah, so you know, basically we really don't feel responsible for any of that stuff..."

Once I received that message late Saturday afternoon, I first called for our salesman and yet again, voicemail. This time I am not giving up until I speak with someone. So after 5 calls to the operator who first disconnected me, then transfered me to the salesman's voicemail and then the manager's voicemail before I could finish my request, and finally told her bluntly that I want to speak to a person in charge now and will not stop calling until I get a live person to speak with. Also, we were already in the car and decided to make a personal visit if we have too. Finally, she is able to get the used car manager on the line (the one who also worked with our salesman) and I explained the situation. I was told that there is no 30 day/1000 mile Gullo Guarentee on vehicles over 100K and that the salesman just misspoke when he offered that too us during our purchase. Oh that's just dandy and BS! He also stated that mechanics like to drum up business and that their people would have to look at it first. So we had an understanding that the van would be dropped off that Monday morning for a review of what our mechanic found.

So we call around 4:00 Monday afternoon as we have heard nothing from Gullo about the van. I call and leave yet another voicemail with the manager as we need to know when we might get this back as we are now functioning on one car. Again, no call backs and again I am forced to call them to get the service department who tells us that they see no problems with the power steering pump. The one item that I could possibly hold their feet to the fire as this was a safty issue. We already had to pay a grand for the radiator hoses and timing belt as we knew that they wouldn't cover that as part of their "gotcha" campaign. They did want to keep the van another day to ensure that it isn't leaking.

Tuesday afternoon comes around and again no calls from Gullo. I call the service department first to get a guy who knows nothing about this van and was transferred to the manager only to again get a voicemail. I leave a message.

Wednesday is now here and you guessed it, no call back from my message left inquiring about a status. I again call the service department and I am pretty pissed at this point. I was told that the power steering pump is fine and that there is only "seapage" on the valve cover...certainly nothing that they would deem to be an issue. Of coarse that would be their response. He also gave me the name of a lady who deals with these types of customer issues. But guess what!....I am forced to leave another voicemail. So I explain as best I could and through gritted teeth my situation. Graciously, she calls back within the hour after speaking with the used car manager and we are told that they are keeping the van until the new rearview mirror is in as part of our original agreement...only we were told on the voicemail from the salesman last Saturday, that it would be the following Monday before the mirror comes in. So I explained my issues with the lack of communication and that we would never leave our van there for over a week while waiting for a freakin' mirror. She offers us a loaner while we wait on that issue.

So during our lunch on Wednesday, we drive down there to get the loaner car. Both the salesman and the manager ignore us completely and we get the loaner from another saleslady who knew nothing of our situation. Being there for a third time now, I am really mad at this point as they have no business and are never too busy to answer their phones....they just simply do answer them.

The very next morning, we get a call from our salesman that our van is ready to be picked up. WTF? If we knew it was going to be the next damn morning, we would have waited. So during Thursday's lunch we drive down their to get our van with all the known issues that they refuse to repair and we part our ways.

Only the battery fries after my wife turned the car off and is stranded in a rain storm looking for a jump. I call the salesman as I am more than certain that this incident would fall under the "30 day Gullo Guarantee" as this wasn't a preexisting issue....the guy actually answers his phone for the first time in over a week! Hmm...I have to wonder if he thought we were gone for good and he could now pick up the receiver. I asked him about this and his response was "I don't know what you want me to do about it." I asked, "So you're telling me that we are stuck with this now?" His reply, "Well yes, you are!" I bitched him a thank you and hung up on him.

I left another message with the customer relations lady, and to no surprise, no call back. Soooo, we are now left to word of mouth and internet reviews that will hopefully steer others from this company. We do like the van and our beef was never about the purchase, it was about them selling under lies and false beliefs that they ACTUALLY looked over the car and ensured it was in top shape for sell as we did with our Malibu. There were no known issues remaining on the Malibu; however, these issues with the van were known to Gullo and they didn't owe up to them.

Sad to know people still shake hands with you while their other hand is robbing you blind! Life lesson learned....again.

Why we will never again own a Government Motors vehicle.

We currently have two GM vehicles. One is a 1998 Pontiac Sunfire with 119K miles on it. This car I have not complaints about. It has been maintained well, and therefore has done us proud as a reliable vehicle with no special bells and whistles. Our second car, well this one is an issue. It's a 2004 Chevrolet Malibu Maxx with 86K miles on it and obviously it was during these years when crap began to be produced from this manufacturer. This vehicle is six years newer than the sunfire, but presents itself at least six years older! When my wife and I purchase this car, we thought that it was sleet, classy, and an all-around good multifunction family vehicle. Obviously this car was rushed to market with no true research done that would have saved us as well as GM a lot of headaches and lost customer base. I have taken a few pictures that highlight why this car sucks, why I wish I owned a car from a company that takes pride in their product, and explains that if a company running in a free market can create this, then a taxpayer owned company would simply produce a danger to the roads and citizens who drive them. By the way, this car doesn't qualify for the "Taxpayers pay for everyone else's new car" program, AKA "Cash for Clunkers."

This is the obvious lack of testing and good engineering. If you look closely at the top orange area of the blinker, you notice there's a hole in the orange enclosure. I went through many bulbs as this enclosure just melted under the trapped heat from the bulb and blew out the light. After this went on for several years, the encasing finally melted enough that it now misses the bulb and the trapped heat can now get out. As a result of this heat escaping you can see the discoloration that was rewarded to the once shiny silver metal lining for the entire headlight system.

Should a car that is only five years old have the inside door paneling peeling away? This isn't an accident on our part or lack of care. It just started to separate and give our five year old car a sense of being around the block a few times! Also, this door has power locks, but unfortunately the only feature that works on the passenger door is the unlock button. That door can no longer lock the car.

One would expect that when they bring down the visor that pieces of the covering wouldn't land in your lap. Apparently, the spring that holds it open and closed just popped out and the flap would just hang freely. This was distracting enough that I just removed it as it no longer stayed open or closed.

The above picture was a major buying point for us with a three year old child in the car. This version of the Malibu came with dual moon roofs in the back. This worked wonderfully until the summer heat became a factor. The shade that covers this window is a spring loaded retractable covering that when closed is latched in the notch seen above. However, there is no support system behind this notch when we first purchased the car. When summer came, we couldn't keep the shade closed as the rubber notch/paneling became soft and the spring loaded retractor would snap open the shade as the rubber didn't have the strength to keep it closed. Now our son at the time would have to endure the sun barreling into the window as the shade couldn't block it out. We took it in to the dealership when the steering box failed (detailed later) and the dealerships/GM's solution was to install a support system behind it free of charge. This worked fine until the adhesive that attached the support system (plastic bar) behind the rubber notch wore off over time and we are again battling the sun. Our next solution will be to rip out the spring (and maybe use it to somehow fix the visor) and permanently close the shade to avoid the Texas summer heat coming into these two moon roof windows.

Who knew there was a trick to removing your phone charger in such a way to avoid the entire lighter assembly from coming out of the dash? The only solution I currently have is to crazy glue it back in, but looking at the design of it, there isn't anything to keep it from separating when any device plugged into it gets removed.

And finally, the glorious instrument panel…

I just love the fact that only half of my instrument panel lights now work! It gives it a personal touch I suppose. Now I know the picture isn't the best, but I do believe you can see what I am trying to illustrate here. First it was the bulb on the left that cut in half both the Tachometer and the Speedometer details and when the second bulb went out on the fuel indicator on the right (all you can see at this point is the red indicator) I called a local dealership and was extremely glad I could purchase replacement bulbs. I feared I would have to buy the entire panel! So I have to ask, why are the bulbs burning out at all! I've only replaced two license plate bulbs on my Sunfire in the eleven years I've owned it.

Other issues we have had with this car in the 5 years we've owned it is as follows:

• Battery died which in itself is no big deal, but it shorted out the CD player which had to be warrantied and replaced. We were glad this occurred as the black paint on the volume knob was flaking off and shining through the knob was the back light which only made this look worse. This occurred early on and should have been an omen to us!
  
• Steering box failing. I had never experienced this before, but over time this worsened to the point that when you approached a red light and were down to the final 5mph, the steering wheel , if let go, would just start turning itself to the left. We first had the alignment done (never pulled left on the road to begin with, but had to try something) and finally they had to replace the steering box under an extended warranty. This worked for about two years and its slowly creeping back to the left again.
  
• Master Brake Cylinder failing. Luckily we had this fixed before the breaks completely failed on us. Somehow the master cylinder was already junk at 85K miles and needed replacement. I'm used to having brake pads changed and even the occasional rotor…but the master cylinder? Our Sunfire's still running just fine on its original master cylinder….and steering box for that matter!
  
• Seat warmers come on whenever they want. It's always nice to have your ass unexpectedly warmed up when its 105 outside! I thought about just cutting these wires but then remembered I need to sell this thing. What really gets me is we owned a 2002 GMC truck (older model) where the seat warmers actually abided by "low" and "high" settings. This "newer" car had those settings, but it was all or none. Low wasn't a low warmth…it was a high setting for a short time…so its heat your ass up….turn off….heat your ass up….turn off.

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And wouldn't you know it!!...as I create this document there is yet another failure and a towing. The master cylinder failed in mid-July and less than a month goes by that the electrical power steering fails. Only this fails during driving while the engine is still going. So for instance, if you are making a left hand turn at a signal when it decides to stop working, your car will now be going straight into cross traffic. So we tow it again and my wife and I decided that we need to get out of this hazard and money pit. So after 1,500.00 in repairs in less than a month, we dump it along with the aging Sunfire for a Mazda and Toyota.

None of these issues, in my opinion, are the result of a true lemon, but rather a rapid deterioration of cheap workmanship, materials and poor engineering. A great idea rushed to market and ultimately to a rapid demise. This is why we will never buy a GM and perhaps another American made car. These past few years have enlightened me to what the priorities are for these companies. I have no doubt that the unions played a role in this cars deterioration. GM needed to fund labor and benefits over quality and development and to compete in a global market, had to make cuts somewhere. I now know where those cuts were made and I now seek out a car company whose products do not reflect these types of short comings.